Media, Politics

ABC’s Martha Raddatz Under Fire Over Abbott Interview
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There is an interesting controversy this week after ABC’s Martha Raddatz took Texas GOP Governor Greg Abbott to task for public comments about the open Southern border as fueling the crisis. Raddatz is being criticized for her claim that President Joe Biden has never encouraged migrants to come over the border — a statement that many objected to as demonstrably false. However, I am more interested in a different aspect of her remarks: the objection to Abbott’s language. It is the type of objection that one finds from a system of state media where the narrative is supposed to be replicated and uniform.

Abbott has criticized the Biden administration’s “open-border policies” and Raddatz immediately objected to that language in her interview:

You talk about the border wall, you talk about open borders, I don’t think I’ve ever heard President Biden say, ‘We have an open border, come on over.” But people I have heard say it are you, are former President Trump, Ron DeSantis. That message reverberates in Mexico and beyond. So, they do get the message that it is an open border.”

Critics immediately pointed out past Biden comments criticized as seemingly encouraging such border crossers: “They deserve to be heard. That’s who we are. We’re a nation that says, ‘If you want to flee, and you’re fleeing oppression, you should come.’”

They also point out that Raddatz herself was told by one border crosser that he “basically” made the trip because Biden was elected.

However, it was the objection to the use of divergent language that was equally striking. ABC and other mainstream media sites have been accused of echoing the narrative of the Biden Administration and largely ignoring (until recently) the crisis at the southern border. Those who raise the issue have been denounced as exaggerating or inventing a crisis.

Raddatz’s interview is reminiscent of the interview by Leslie Stahl on CBS with former President Donald Trump where she shutdown Trump referring to the spying on this campaign by declaring that there is no evidence of such spying. There was already ample evidence of such spying, but Stahl simply told viewers that it was untrue.

The Raddatz interview raises again the danger of a de facto state media where media echoes the position of the government by choice rather than coercion. Her objection was that Abbott and others keep referring to a crisis when the Administration and mainstream media do not use such terms. As a journalist, she is objecting to a public official in a border state calling out a crisis as thousands pour over his border on a daily basis.

Raddatz’s objection was notably virtually identical to the talking point put out by the White House. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has declared “It would be wrong to think the border is open. It is not open.” She added “anyone who suggests otherwise is simply doing the work of these smugglers who, again, are spreading misinformation which is very dangerous.”

It is unclear what Raddatz is suggesting. Was the governor of Texas supposed to stop responding to the outcry of border cities to the massive influx? Was he supposed to insist that the border is not open as videos show hundreds just walking over the border?

Raddatz is an accomplished journalist and I have great respect for her career. We can all craft questions or comments poorly. However, the concern is that this interview occurred in the context of ABC and other networks steadfastly ignoring the growing crisis at the border.

 

106 thoughts on “ABC’s Martha Raddatz Under Fire Over Abbott Interview”

  2. Abbott should have challenged her right then and there to show when he ever had encouraged illegal immigration.

    And sorry, Turley, CBS is NOT mainstream, they are leftists.

    It’s so bizarre how the leftist media are now in bed with the feds after so long of an adversarial relationship, at least under republican presidents.

  3. Raddatz is a hack. No need to throw laurel wreaths around her (“…an accomplished journalist and I have great respect for her career.”). She’s been in the tank for Democrats so long she can’t come up for air, else she’d get the bends. This is simply another example of her sef-righteous, contemptible “reporting.”

  4. Ms. Radatz openly cried on TV when HRC lost. Not what one would observe coming from a restrained serious and fair minded journalist. She is a leftist propagandist, nothing more and nothing less.

  5. She’s the ex-wife of Ben Bradlee, Jr.,scion of the Washington Post family. It’s delicious to watch socialists cannibalizing each other.

  7. 1. I saw the interview when broadcast and this part of the interview just did not come across as a big deal with the exception that she and George and the other propagandists on Mickey Mouse News always interrupt the Republican but never interrupt the Democrat (some Dem I never heard of from CA spoke right after Abbot about the invastion and Raddatz let him filibuster his whole 5 minutes)
    2. However, looking at the transcript the thing that strikes me is that she appears to be saying that Abbot, etc. are the ones causing the invasion because they are complaining about the invasion. That’s way past being mouthpieces for Biden. That’s way past Orwell

    1. “she appears to be saying that Abbot, etc. are the ones causing the invasion because they are complaining about the invasion.”
      That is exactly what she is doing. It’s the latest attack narrative for the left. As shown above it is the exact same language Jean-Pierre used. The other part of the attack is them continually saying that all of their problems were left to them from republicans and the previous administration.

  8. I have followed Fox for many years. My wife insists on watching CBS evening news so I have to get the alt left whether I want to or not. Fox is not perfect but still quite good on factual statements. They are also excellent on context which is virtually non existent on CBS on any others of the MSM that I have the displeasure to view. If you question the veracity of a story just look it up on the internet and get it from the local news or paper . Usually on the scene is closer to the facts and not filtered by the MSM. Again Fox comes out ahead. If you want good international reporting then the BBC is great but they always have their leftward slant. Also their reporting of the US remains poor because they still have not figured out exactly what the USA is. Some BBC people think since we sound like Canadians that we must just be aberrant. They rarely go past the coasts and have no concept of the space between the coasts. No unusual for many Brits. The only time you find someone in the British Isles with an understanding of the US is someone with relatives here or they have lived here themselves.
    In recent memory I have not seen a truly good journalist, or even a bad one. The rest are mouthpieces and not journalists.

      1. Icepilot,
        You might not be aware but this weblog only permits two or fewer hyperlinks per comment. I edited your comment above so that it would post. If in the future you would like the readership to review more than two links this can be done by the use of multiple comments of two or less hyperlinks per each.

  10. I don’t really see a defacto state media danger or any other danger with this interview. Raddatz asked a tough question with a lead in statement and Abbott provided an answer that explained his view.

  11. He who controls the language, controls the debate.

    Since the lefts agenda always loses a fair debate in the arena of ideas, words mysteriously have new meanings

  12. That a once believer can alter his belief is not ordinarily newsworthy, but when it is someone of note who once wholly supported a government narrative and now is so diametrically opposed to it, his remarks must be shared.

    1. his remarks must be shared.

      I like the way you think Ron. I did just that at 11:26a. Your post is better as mine just shows the link.

  13. To me the big part of the Radditz story is that she is saying the same ridiculously moronic thing as the moronic spokesperson KJP. When I saw KJP spouting that idiotic line of it being the Republicans fault for saying the border is open I was disgusted but not surprised. To then hear an ABC “reporter” mimic it is sickening beyond compare.

    Just when you think they can’t say anything more absurd or dumb KJP and the followers come up with the most asinine and unintelligent comments possible.

    1. I have this recurring dream that the moment KJP or any other spokesperson for this administration utters the phrase we have been very clear, or the President has been very clear, that a journalist yells out here comes the gaslighting and the cameras are shut off and everyone just walks away.

      I know, I know, but a person can dream.

  15. NO CITIZEN of the USA, no matter who they are, are obligated to comply with a government drafted narrative.

    Herein lies the problem with that very government playing arbiter of so-called “MDM.” We have voted, we have marched, we have tuned out, we have cancelled subscriptions, we have spoken up, spoken out, we have written letters & none of it has worked. But we can’t stop, no matter what.

    It’s wrong and it has to stop. I pray the AGs are successful in their efforts because if we have chance of saving this Democratic Republic, it will have to be in the courts.

    I hope the judges won’t let us down as our elected leaders have.

  16. “The Raddatz interview raises again the danger of a de facto state media where media echoes the position of the government by choice rather than coercion.”
    +++++++
    Although I am beginning to doubt whether we will see another GOP president because of this very issue of de facto state-run media, if a Republican was miraculously elected, there no longer would the media echo the government’s position.

  17. Somewhat off topic; Actor Tim Robbins describes how he escaped his Leftist bubble long enough to begin questioning the government’s pandemic policies. Martha Raddatz would go into vapor lock trying understand how this could even happen.

    Good way to start the day.

    https://youtu.be/uMdOesJo4h8

    1. I suspect Tim Robbins was also among the first to get the mRNA vaccine, and wonder if by the data now unfolding he might be one who regrets it.

  18. Yet another example of the age-old fight for the minds of the public between bureaucratic controlled media that zealously exercises its control, and that which balks at the zealots’ replication and uniformity by favoring instead divergent sources of information that keep vibrant democracy alive and well.

  19. War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength and the border is not open.

  20. Think of what the $$$ MILLIONS BEING SPENT– ((on these well-nourished-and-illegal immigrants, with their Nike shoes and designer sunglasses, wading across and thumbing their noses at our legal immigration system)) –COULD HAVE DONE for the legitimate poor and desperate in Sudan and other places, —in cold, arid conditions, without shelter, food or water, flies crawling across the little babies’ eyes, their ribs showing with every respiration…(we’ve all seen the commercials begging for donations)…
    I would welcome any one of those families here, over and above those who flaunt our system.
    There is nothing that gets my normal blood pressure up like the Left’s attempt to increasingly “diversify” our nation, to gain in Hispanic voting blocs (previously Republican-leaning), and make whites no longer the majority. We are fools if we believe the main intent/motive is altruistic…it is but another move to enhance a political ideology.

    1. (NOT a criticism of Hispanics, but rather a criticism of illegal immigration by those perhaps not deserving of immediate entrance.)

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